


different types of friends

by Debate



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Accidental secret relationship, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Attempt at Humor, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Growing Up, Oblivious Hot Pie, POV Outsider, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 10:04:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20544353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Debate/pseuds/Debate
Summary: You know that feeling when you think your friends secretly hate you? Yeah, so does Hot Pie.Not that it makes any sense, Arya and Gendry are loyal friends and always have been, but why else would they keep sharing private glances, and stand so close together, and hang out without him?There's really no other explanation.





	different types of friends

Hot Pie [8:22 PM]: the boss is leaving me alone to close up and its super slow tn so if you guys wanna come bother me and eat blueberry pie feel free

Hot Pie [8:31 PM]: *free blueberry pie

Hot Pie [8:39 PM]: i close in 20 mins and a flour fight might be on the table if either of you RESPOND

Hot Pie [8:53 PM]: ok be like that 

Hot Pie [9:00 PM]: i expect this behavior from Gendry but tbh Arya im disappointed

* * *

Hot Pie isn’t actually disappointed in his friends. They’re all busy enough people now that they’ve entered a stage of tenuous adulthood, and even if he knows that Gendry is done with work by six and that Arya didn’t have any of her (seemingly endless) family obligations he doesn’t really want to guilt trip either of them for being busy. It’s just that he thinks it’s more important now than ever to stick close to his friends. They can’t fall back on school-enforced proximity anymore, and he doesn’t have anyone else. 

He closes up the cafe without any antics and walks home by himself, feeling a bit nostalgic about the days when they’d ignore their homework and go off to the fort they’d made in the woods and come up with schemes to piss off the rival baseball team and nick beers off of Arya’s older brothers. 

The bright burst of his ringtone breaks him out of the daze and he fumbles to get it out of his pocket, his shoulders relaxing when he sees the awful picture of Arya squinting against the sun that he has saved to her contact info. He answers the call without a second thought. 

“Hey Hot Pie,” Arya says, a little breathless, like she’s been running. It’s a little late at night for cardio, but Arya has always taken her fitness regime very seriously. 

“Oh, hi Arry,” Hot Pie says, determined not to sound put out. Arya sighs into the receiver so he guesses he didn’t do a great job. 

“Sorry I didn’t answer your texts,” she says. She pauses for a moment and Hot Pie would describe her next words as nervous if Arya ever got nervous. “Gendry and I were out at the movies. Together.” 

“Oh,” Hot Pie says again. Well that makes sense at least; their phones were off. It doesn’t make him feel any better about the fact that they decided to go out on a day they knew he had to work. “Well, uh, what did you see?” 

_“The Wight.”_

At least it was a movie they knew he wouldn’t like. Hot Pie doesn’t understand how anyone can like horror movies, and he’s glad his friends didn’t drag him out to see one. Peer pressure isn’t something he’s good at withstanding. He feels a bit better about the whole situation. 

“Well how was it?” 

“I, uh,” Arya makes a shuffling sound, moving her phone around, and then she laughs lowly and Hot Pie can imagine her biting her lip in that way she does. “I didn’t pay much attention, really.” 

There’s more noise on the other side of the line. “Gendry says that it was perfectly adequate, so take that as you will.” 

‘Adequate’ is about the vaguest word that Gendry could have chosen, and Hot Pie intends to tell Arya to carry on that message, but apparently she finds Gendry’s comment to be funny because her laughs interrupts him. 

“So the reason I called was I was wondering if you wanted to meet up Sunday? The three of us? Get a drink or something?” 

“Sure,” he agrees automatically, those pesky feelings of inadequacy disappearing at Arya and Gendry’s clear desire to spend time with him. They sort out the details of place and time, and Hot Pie is just about to hang up when he rushes out one last point. “I wasn’t actually disappointed in you, Arry.” 

“I know,” Arya says, too quick to convince Hot Pie that she actually did know. “I’ll see you Sunday.” 

His Saturday passes by in a flash of too much time in bed and several loads of neglected laundry, and then all of a sudden it’s Sunday night and he’s getting ready to meet his friends and is wondering how the weekend always manages to get eaten up like that. 

Arya and Gendry are already at the pub when he gets there, although it takes him a moment to spot them because it’s so crowded. Sunday is normally their day to go out because they all prefer it when it’s less crowded and decided long ago that they’re all still young enough to handle hangovers like champs and get to work for Monday if it comes to that. The ingenuity of their plan seems rather lackluster with someone else’s birthday party raging around them. 

“Jeez,” Hot Pie says as he climbs into the open chair at their table after having to snake his way through the room. “I really want to get hammered now.” 

Gendry smirks, “I’ll get us our usuals then?” 

Hot Pie nods with enthusiasm, forking over some bills so that Gendry can go up to the bar and order, far more capable of elbowing his way through than he or Arya could, considering his height. 

“How was your week?” Arya asks, her voice clear even over the music and conversation. 

“Fine.” Hot Pie shrugs, almost wishing something more monumental had happened so he’d have a fun story. Well, now that he thought about it, there was that time Tuesday when Meg had mixed up the brown and white sugar in the apple crumble, but that was a story best saved for when Gendry got back. He’d be polite first. “How about you?” 

For a moment he thought Arya blushed, but then he realized it was just the heat from all the bodies and the fact that Arya hadn’t taken off her leather jacket. As if Arya ever blushed. “Well, you know, pretty great.” 

Hot Pie was about to point out that he _didn’t_ know, but then Arya continued on. 

“Thanks for being so cool about it. Neither of us wanted to make things weird.” 

For a moment he didn’t know what she was talking about, but then she tilted her head in the direction Gendry had went off to. She meant about the whole business on Friday. 

“Oh it’s cool,” Hot Pie says. “I mean, things weren’t going to stay the same between the three of us forever, you guys can hang out without me.” Hot Pie thinks he’s being very mature about the whole situation. After all, he and Gendry volunteer with the kids at the rec center without Arya every other Thursday and he and Arya commander her parent’s kitchen every so often so he can teach her how to feed herself. It’s only fair. 

Arya nods slowly and then Gendry’s there with their beers and Hot Pie dives into the sugar story. But even as he does his mind sticks to the brief conversation and he can’t help but linger on the things that have changed. 

Lommy is gone for one, having moved away a year ago, and none of them are as good at the whole long distance friendship thing as they’d said they’d try to be. 

Arya is more reserved too, having grown out of stamping her feet in anger, and Gendry doesn’t _literally_ spit in the face of authority anymore, and maybe that’s just part of growing up. 

It doesn’t seem to have limited Arya and Gendry’s desire to raise each other’s tempers. 

“I’m just saying what else do you use brown sugar for than cooking?” 

“Uh, in sugarcubes? For your tea? God, you’re so stupid.”

“Sugar cubes? What is the Queen coming? Should we buy extras as a treat for the horses in the stables?”

“Well that would be very considerate!” 

Hot Pie sighs as his friends fall into their own little world and takes out his phone to do a quick search, at this point very accustomed to the responsibility of settling their minor squabbles. As usual they’re both half right, and neither takes too heavy a blow to their pride. 

They’re just starting in on their next round when a ranctious rendition of “Happy Birthday” fills the bar, and peer pressure forces them to join in, all their mouths twisting up over the stranger’s name. Arya corners a girl from the party to ask questions about the festivities and two minutes later it’s as if they are the best of friends and suddenly a round of shots is being ordered for their table. Hot Pie can’t argue with people buying him drinks and Gendry looks pretty pleased with the outcome as well when not half a minute ago the stranger’s presence seemed to be pissing him off. 

The girl leaves after that to return to her friends but only after telling Arya at least five times that her hair was so cute. She is hardly inconspicuous with the glances she throws back to their table for the rest of the night. Or more likely at Gendry. Hot Pie used to get annoyed that Gendry would get all the female attention when they went out to places like this, but he’d grown out of it when he learned that women’s hearts could also be won over through baked goods. It helps that Gendry is a horrible flirt. 

“How long until she comes back and asks for your number?” Gendry says nudging Arya with his elbow as he takes out his wallet in preparation for another round. Arya rolls her eyes. Hot Pie blinks in confusion. Had she been flirting with Arya? He thought it was just that incessant admiring thing girls do when they’re drunk. 

“I’m quite content where I am, thanks,” Arya says, nudging Gendry back. And then weirdly enough, Gendry breaks out into a large grin. He must have been drunker than Hot Pie thought, with a smile like that. Probably skipped lunch. “Now go get us drinks,” she adds and slaps a bill into his chest with a wink. 

Part of Hot Pie wants to inquire if that had actually been flirting that he just witnessed with the girl (what was her name? Lana? Lea? Gods he was awful with names), but that would mean owning up to being as clueless as Gendry in the area, and he needs something to lord over him. Besides, none of them are really the types of friends to discuss their love lives with each other. It’s just not their thing. Or maybe it’s just because they don’t have love lives to speak of. 

Gendry returns with their drinks before he can go down a spiral about how all his friendships were changing and he has definitely never been in love and he will probably going to die alone. 

Oh no. 

The depths of his pale ale don’t shine back with any answers so he takes a deep gulp and feels a little better. 

“No no!” Arya exclaims suddenly, standing up straight on the support beam of the high-top chair and slamming her hands down on the table as she wobbles dangerously on the chair’s three legs. “You’re not allowed to be Sad-Drunk Hot Pie tonight! We’re having such a good time.” 

Is he drunk already? He stands up in the same manner as Arya and nearly crashes to the ground so he has an answer. He always forgets that he doesn’t feel the shots until long minutes after. “Sorry,” he mumbles but that’s not what Arya wants to hear apparently. 

“Come on let’s do something fun! Darts! We can play darts!”

Are darts fun? He likes the sharp thunk of when they hit the board properly. 

“I like the thunk.” 

“Yes!” Arya snaps her fingers in agreement and keeps her fingers pointed at him while she turns to Gendry with raised eyebrows. 

“Sure, but it’s me against Hot Pie,” Gendry sighs, clapping him on the shoulder (when did he get to Hot Pie’s side of the table?) and guiding him to the back where the dart board is set up. “You always win and it’s no fun.” 

She does always win, but Hot Pie wants to win today. Arya says something biting, probably about Gendry being stupid for not letting her beat him, but Hot Pie is trying to make up a game plan and doesn’t pay attention. 

Gendry wins. Hot Pie thinks he might be the drunker one now, and that’s why, but it doesn’t help that Arya stands on her tiptoes to whisper coaching tips into his ear in a blatant show of favoritism. He’s more upset about that than his loss. 

“Okay, more drinks?” Arya asks as they make their way back to the table. 

“I think I’m done for the night,” Hot Pie admits. He’s not having fun anymore. It’s just past midnight and Monday morning creeps ever closer. 

Arya’s mouth twists into something between a pout and a smirk and there’s the drunk shine to her eyes which means she wants to do something stupid.

“Fine,” she says, not put out at all. “We all good to walk home?” 

Hot Pie isn’t quite sure on that front, but he didn’t spend all that time in his teenage years faking sobriety for nothing. 

They make their way out onto the sidewalk without any of the stumbles or high-pitched bursts of laughter that were essential to their nights out a few years ago. 

The narrowness of the concrete pathway means that the three of them can’t stand shoulder to shoulder so Hot Pie is forced to follow Arya and Gendry back to his own apartment. The two of them keep talking, apparently they have contrasting opinions about streetlights and feel the need to hash it out, but Hot Pie tunes out the conversation, stuck watching the way their arms keep brushing while his swing unconfined yet heavy by his side.

“You’re gonna get up alright by yourself?” Gendry asks suddenly and Hot Pie nearly crashes into his back before he catches himself. Oh. They’re outside his apartment. 

“Yeah, yeah,” he says and watches Gendry and Arya look at him expectantly. Right, his keys. 

His mouth already has that sour hungover taste and he really wishes that he could unsee how close his friends are standing next to each other. Maybe they’re better friends to each other than him because they both live on the west side of town instead of in the center and get extra bonding time when they walk back together, and—

It’s stupid to be jealous of your own friends. 

That’s exactly what Arya would say and it sounds like her voice when the thought rattles in his head. She and Gendry are both too blunt to be subtly trying to ditch him. He knows them, they aren’t like that. (“Then why are they closer than either of them are with you,” whispers a tiny voice in his head.)

“G’night guys,” he says once the door is finally open. “Text me when you get home.” 

“Sure thing.” 

“Get some sleep!” 

It’s a good thing he’s sort of drunk because he’s asleep the moment he climbs into bed and doesn’t have to deal with the loudness of his own thoughts in the dark. 

* * *

Arya [1:31 AM]: back!

Gendry [1:34 AM]: home 👍

* * *

Hot Pie’s Monday starts poorly. Not only because his mouth is all fuzzy in a way that not even croissants and coffee can solve, but also because the texts from his friends that greet him when he wakes were sent a good hour after they parted ways. Which means they probably stayed up together talking or getting greasy diner fries. Without him. 

Or maybe they both just forgot, a more rational part of his brain suggests. Arya especially was always brushing off other people’s worries for her. 

He’s making up problems that aren’t there and it just makes him feel worse. So he focuses all his brain power into prep work in the kitchen. Measuring out flour and butter is the best distraction. 

Except that eventually work ends, and his Monday evening is spent considering the night before, trying to remember the way he felt through the drunk glaze and if it was at all well founded or just the product of beer and old abandonment issues. 

Maybe he should talk to Gendry about it. He has similar insecurities about his worth, because their childhoods fell into the same category of shitiness; and while he can’t give advice for shit, he has a sympathetic ear. 

It’s not the sort of conversation you can have over the phone though. Actually, the very idea of having the conversation is terrifying and he would have dropped the idea of having it if both of them weren’t seeing each other in person on Thursday. 

The rec center on the outskirts of the city is probably the only reason he didn’t spend their teenage years vandalizing bridges or something equally ridiculous. The chocolate chip cookies he made there are the reason he ever wanted to learn baking, and it was in a pickup game of basketball that he had met Gendry and Arya before recognizing either of them at school, so he owes the place a lot and doesn’t mind volunteering to teach a baking class twice a month. 

Gendry usually spends the time there with the young kids organizing games, offering validating high fives, and agreeing when the kids bitch about their parents or teachers. But he always comes by at the end of Hot Pie’s class to sample the goods. 

“You like me for more than my baking skills, right?” He asks, joking but actually serious as Gendry eats a slice of coffee cake. 

“Well I liked you before you could cook, so yeah.” 

The answer doesn’t actually do anything reassuring. 

“But I’m someone worth being friends with, right?” 

Gendry brushes crumbs off his shirt as his brow furrows into his thinking face. 

“Yeah, that’s why I’m friends with you. I wouldn’t bother being friends with someone shitty. You all right?”

“Yeah, I just—” _I just feel like you and Arya like each other more than you like me. That’s true, isn't it?_“Just kinda been feeling lonely recently I guess,” he flakes out. 

Gendry’s mouth quirks. “Well we can hang out whenever, just give me a call, ya know.” 

Hot Pie nods, his brain working through the logistics of why Gendry’s offer just isn’t feasible with their work schedules. He masks the heaviness bringing his mouth down with doing the last bit of cleaning up.

“Speaking of,” Gendry continues on their way to the parking lot. “The Brotherhood is playing at Tom’s next weekend. I know you don’t really like them, but Arya’s already agreed to come, and the tickets are cheap. You know what, I’ll even get you one! It’ll be fun, honest.”

Gendry looks genuinely excited, which is a rare enough occasion that Hot Pie finds himself agreeing despite his general distaste of rock music and crowds of people that will inevitably spill beer on him. He’s being a good friend. And so is Gendry, he reminds himself. 

* * *

Gendry [8:04 PM]: reminder: BWB concert this weekend 

Arya [8:06 PM]: as if we could forget lmao

Hot Pie [8:08 PM]: it’s the only thing he’s been excited about maybe ever let him have this 

Hot Pie [8:09 PM]: and yes i will be there but only because you got me the ticket their music is still trash

Gendry [8:12 PM]: good thing i’ve never cared about your opinion hot pie

* * *

The queue to get is longer than he anticipated. For the cheapest concert venue in the city, the place is packed, and the opening act has already started by the time he pushes his way onto the floor. 

The Brotherhood Without Banners is a locally based rock band with a small fan base consisting of surly young adults, some of which have pyromaniac tendencies, but at the very least a healthy aversion to lawful authorities. So basically Gendry’s entire brand.

The opening act is a bit more subdued, a pair of women who might be sisters playing a guitar and drums respectively, the guitar player singing about the hells of customer service, which, while relatable, is still a bit too loud for his taste. 

Hot Pie will stick to his soft folk music, thanks. 

He just wants to find his friends at this point, maybe bitch a little when he can fit it in around the bass reverberation. He thinks it might be an impossible search at first, what with every single person in the place sporting dark t-shirts and jeans, but over the heads of the rest of the crowd is Arya’s dark hair, tied back into that braided bun she wears when she wants to keep her neck cool. She’s clinging to Gendry in a piggyback ride. 

After a bit of shoving and throwing his weight around he’s able to push forward to where they are standing, announcing his presence by reaching up and flicking Arya’s ear. 

“Hey!” Arya yells, looking far too happy for someone who claims she doesn’t even really like the band, one of the stickers with the band’s logo that they were handing out at the door with plastered on her cheek. “Way to get out of your comfort zone, Hot Pie!” 

She’s yelling and he can still barely hear her. He misses his comfort zone. 

But then Gendry hands him a beer in a plastic cup that was certainly atrociously over-priced and he feels better. 

“Aren’t they good?” Arya says resting her chin on top of Gendry’s head which is a bit weird because he’s not used to looking up at her. “They’re the Nettles.”

“The Nettles?”

“No! Heddles, it’s their last name, they’re sisters!” 

Hot Pie nods non-committedly, turning his attention back to the act. They’re singing about annoying siblings now, the irony of which he can now appreciate. Arya seems to be vibing with it, even though the lack of singing indicates that neither Gendry or Arya have heard their music before.

Instead the two of them are talking, Arya leaning down so her mouth is right up against Gendry’s ear, and he’s got a smile on his face like she’s the funniest person ever. Hot Pie stands next to them, but doesn’t try to carry on a conversation. He drinks his beer and bops along like the music moves him. 

At least the energy of the room is great, making his blood pump even if concerts aren’t his favorite, and he manages to sing along to a particularly catchy chorus. This is manageable, or at least it is until the Heddles finish their set and the room goes absolutely mad, sparklers on the stage going off the entire time the instruments are being changed for the main act. 

Arya whoops with the rest of them, then laughs at her own expressiveness. Gendry isn’t one to holler but he stomps his feet, his hands still wrapped around Arya’s thighs. 

None of the band member’s names come to mind, but all of them are a bit dramatic in a way the crowd clearly loves but that is a bit much for Hot Pie. The flashing lights are making his head spin and almost all the songs seem to be about how the night is full of terrors and someone pushes past him to get closer to the front and for a moment he isn’t standing next to Arya and Gendry anymore. 

And then he doesn’t know where they are. Arya doesn’t seem to be on Gendry’s back anymore and yelling their names isn’t gonna help. For a moment he’s stuck still in the jumping crowd and all he wants is some fresh air. 

But then he glimpses a girl with a sticker on her cheek and it’s Arya, dancing unabashedly. She has the best rhythm of anyone he’s ever met but he always manages to forget until he sees her dance again. 

Then he spots Gendry standing just a bit behind her, his eyes not even on the stage, but watching Arya with some sort of happy daze, like she’s the one he came to see tonight. It’s weird, and now he’s confused on top of everything else. 

He taps Gendry’s shoulder to break him out of it. 

“I think I’m gonna go,” he yells as best he can, pointing towards the exit to make his point clear. 

“What? Why?”

Hot Pie tries to shrug with an aloof air. 

“Just not having fun.” 

Gendry at least seems abashed that he brought him somewhere he doesn’t want to be and nods in understanding. “Sorry I dragged you here.” 

“No it was a good time,” he lies. “Just a little too much. You guys have fun.” 

Gendry nods, then leans forward to whisper in Arya’s ear in the same manner she had talked to him earlier. She waves goodbye, but doesn’t seem sad to see him go, still having fun. He turns his back on them when Gendry tickles her sides, and her squeal is audible even over all the din. 

The back exit is crowded by smokers who are all having a good laugh which sounds pitched and cracky from his sudden immersion in quiet night. 

His ears are still ringing several minutes later so he fishes out his phone to play something soft and soothing. He doesn’t have earbuds, but the tones are low and he also doesn’t mind subjecting strangers to his music at the moment. His pace slows as he shakes off the weird energy from the concert and Arya and Gendry. 

There’s something he doesn’t know, some secret or joke they’ve decided not to share and theories of what it might be rage wildly in his mind. He doesn’t sleep well that night, and he doesn’t even have any answers to show for it. 

* * *

Lommy [5:34 PM]: so guess who’s going to be in your area next week

Lommy [5:35 PM]: spoiler alert: it’s me

Lommy [5:35 PM]: so what i mean is that we need to get together and have a proper carry on

Hot Pie [5:37 PM]: that’s so great!! And yess!!!

Lommy [5:40 PM]: awesome! Are sundays still the standard? Figure we could go out to the diner on 5th instead of just the bar? 

Hot Pie [5:42 PM]: lunch or dinner? I don’t work sundays anymore (!)

Lommy [5:44 PM]: late lunch? 3:45? So we have lots of time? Also I texted Arya and Gendry but they haven’t responded yet you know if they’re available? I want to see them too

Hot Pie [5:45 PM]: not surprising lol. Arya should be tho, and Gendry can show up by six even if he has work

Lommy [5:47 PM]: uhhh what do you mean ‘not surprising lol’??

Hot Pie [5:50 PM]: idk

Hot Pie [5:50 PM]: they’ve been weird lately?? 

Hot Pie [5:50 PM]: or maybe i’ve been weird?? It’s just that i feel they’re better friends with each other than they are with me and it sucks

Hot Pie [5:51 PM]: and i can’t tell if it’s all in my head or not and I don’t want to mention it because i don’t want them to feel like crappy friends if i’m the one who’s insecure

Hot Pie [5:52 PM]: does that make sense?

Lommy [5:54 PM]: i mean yeah lol

Lommy [5:55 PM]: like i love the new job and everything but before i met new people here it kinda sucked knowing the three of you were still together having fun and stuff

Hot Pie [5:56 PM]: sorry i didn’t realize you felt that way we should’ve tried to talk more

Lommy [5:58 PM]: don’t worry about it I didn’t really make an effort either so no hard feelings

Lommy [5:59 PM]: and Arya and Gendry are real ones I don’t think they’re excluding you on purpose or anything but if you’re really worried about it just like,,,,talk to them lmao

Hot Pie [6:03 PM]: yeah ur right

Lommy [6:05 PM]: ofc i am

Lommy [6:06 PM]: also Gendry texted me back and he said he’s good so 

Hot Pie [6:07 PM]: well I guess we’ll all be there then

* * *

It’s good to see Lommy again, the moment it’s just the two of them across from each other for awhile, saving all the good stories for when the other two arrive and discussing the menu in depth instead, as if it’s changed in the year Lommy’s been gone. Despite the triviality it’s not awkward, they fall back easily into the friendship they had shared as kids. Lommy has a lot to say and is still wrong about almost everything in the endearing way that makes him a fun friend to have. 

They nurse their drinks for a minute or two, but Arya and Gendry show up together before the waitress comes back to ask about their entrees, impressive considering punctuality has never been Arya’s strong suit. 

They climb out of the booth to exchange hugs and backslaps. Arya rolls her eyes at the Lommy’s squeeze, pretending like she always has that she hates physical affection, as if he hadn’t spent the previous weekend watching her cling to Gendry. He doesn’t get why she puts up the pretense with the rest of them. 

When they squeeze back into the booth, Hot Pie finds himself situated next to Lommy and the waitress comes back to get their orders which they give before Lommy launches into how he broke his leg (tripping over a tree root after a dog’s bark had startled him in the park) and the next three months worth of crutch induced escapades.

Their food arrives before he’s finished, after which he asks about the concert from the previous weekend, which Arya or Gendry must have mentioned at some point. Arya gives it a stellar review, Hot Pie says it was fine (as Lommy offers him a sympathetic smile), and Gendry pretends it wasn’t all he was thinking about for most of the month. 

“So what else is new?” Lommy asks, waving a fry at Arya and Gendry before shoving it down his throat. “Besides the whole dating thing.” 

Hot Pie blinks, Arya’s story about one of her little brothers not registering at all. Dating? He looks to Gendry who doesn’t seem phased, his hard face neutral as he nods along to a story he’s seemingly heard before. And Arya is still talking like the comment wasn’t even worth acknowledging. 

“Wait what? You’re dating? Since when!?” 

In a totally unhelpful manner Arya and Gendry just blink at him for a couple seconds. 

“Last month?” Gendry eventually says, and has the audacity to seem confused by Hot Pie’s confusion. 

“And you didn’t think to tell me till today!” He demands, his heart racing for no good reason. 

“Hot Pie you were literally the first person I told! I called right after our first date!” Arya interrupts and her sharp consonants have always gone a long way to shut him up. Hot Pie tries for a moment to figure out what she means, but has no recollection of such a conversation ever occurring. There’s no doubt he would remember _that_. “Remember?” Arya huffs. “You asked us to come over to the cafe but we were out together at the movies?” 

Oh, he does remember that. But he seems to remember it a little different. “Well...you never said you were out on a _date_.” 

At that Gendry, Arya, and Lommy all give him the look that means he’s being thick. 

“But!” Hot Pie flounders for a moment, struggling to find evidence that he wasn’t at least a little justified in having missed this development. “You two don’t ever, like, kiss or anything!” 

Gendry rolls his eyes (which, now that he’s thinking about it, is much more of an Arya-ism; he refuses to think on it further). “Well yeah, not in front of you.” 

“Much appreciated,” Lommy interjects with a tilt of his drink. Still highly amused, he turns to Hot Pie. “And really? You’d need to see them snog to put one and two together? He’s had his arm around her all night.” 

Hot Pie looks back over the table and sure enough Gendry’s arm is slung over Arya’s shoulders. He stiffens for a moment at the attention like he’s considering pulling away, but seems to think better of it and relaxes again. 

“Remember how many exams he bombed in English? Context clues just go right over his head.” Arya leans her head back against Gendry’s bicep, as if to enhance her teasing of him as much as possible.

“Yeah it makes sense coming from someone who thought you were a boy for like, three months.” 

Part of him is very glad that they’re making fun of him, it means things are normal, but the other part has suffered ribbing from Gendry about that since he was twelve, bringing it up now is just the final blow to his pride. 

“Well sorry! I just learned that my two best mates are dating! It’s a little…” The word weird is on the tip of his tongue, but he makes himself pause and think for a second. 

Arya and Gendry. 

Gendry and Arya. 

Their names run together easily, the same way the two of them always have. If he twists it a certain way he can see how their typical banter could be considered flirting. They’ve known each other as long as Hot Pie’s known them, and that’s a long time. He supposes it makes sense. 

And he realizes it’s the answer to the questions that have been nagging him the past couple weeks. All of those soft smiles Gendry wore. Arya giggling. How they were always arriving and leaving with each other. They’re really happy together. 

“Oh wow, I guess that’s pretty great.” 

Arya’s laughing lowly now, but he knows it’s at the situation and not at him. There’s no way she or Gendry secretly hate him. God, they’re _dating_. 

He laughs. “And here I was like some idiot thinking you were phasing me out as a friend or something, but you’re just dating!”

Gendry’s forehead does that furrowing thing, and Arya’s smile fades. 

“You thought we were phasing you out?” 

“We didn’t mean to exclude you at all.” 

Hot Pie’s face feels flushed under all the attention. After having saying it out loud he realizes how much it was all in his head. 

“No, no, I was just, insecure I guess. I was noticing that you guys were closer, which makes sense now. But I just felt that you guys were better friends with each other than you were with me.” He shrugs. 

“Well,” Arya looks to Gendry for a moment and he only raises his eyebrows minutely in a way that Hot Pie now sees to be very couple-y. Maybe he was just so used to seeing them in a friend context that he was oblivious to this new development that was so immediately obvious to Lommy. “We both love spending time with you, really, and if we’re ever annoying just say something ok. We’re just a different kind of friend with each other.” 

“Arry has a _boyfriend_. Never thought I’d see the day.”

He can’t believe he’s missed an entire month of making fun of them over this. He smiles at Gendry’s proud expression, feeling more at ease than he has in weeks. 

“Ugh, shut up!”

**Author's Note:**

> this ended up being more friendshippy than plain old shippy but I like it anyway, and I hope you did too, tell me what you think!


End file.
